31 August 2021 | Video, Wireless Wonderland |
A friend recently bought a new 5G smartphone. She was worried about the ‘5G’ part especially. Two problems:
First, there is no 5G where we live, so I just turned it off.
Second, the 5G Samsung phone only supports lower frequencies than our local 4G network – IOW, no millimeter wave!
Of course, it’s about more than just frequency. In reality, it’s about way more than just the technologies involved.
There is a hidden danger to worrying TOO MUCH about the effects of our wireless wonderland…
(more…)
24 August 2021 | Computers, How to, Video |
Video captures are pretty easy with Snagit. There’s only one problem: That dreaded ‘No Mic’ error!
It’s almost made Snagit infamous instead of famous.
Solutions abound, but THIS one actually works.
It’ll cost you a few bucks, but the same trick works with other video and video capture software.
Which probably means it’s a Windows issue in the end, but whatever…
(more…)
10 August 2021 | Energy, How Does it Work?, Video |
Common wisdom dictates that you’re supposed to use your air conditioning in a certain way.
Let it warm up during the day or when you’re not at home. If you’re really hot, turn it way, WAY down and it’ll magically cool faster!
How you use your A/C depends on who you listen to… And on that front, you probably want to listen to the people who design, install, and maintain A/C.
Because while scientific theories are great, practical realities back down here on Earth are better!
(more…)
3 August 2021 | Computers, How to, Video |
Taking screen captures is pretty easy. But what about VIDEO captures?
It might seem like you need a PhD in computer science, but it turns out that recording a video of a single window or your desktop is VERY easy these days.
Here are 3 easy ways to do screen recording on your puter, and the first one won’t cost you a penny!
(more…)
13 July 2021 | Computers, Gizmos, How to, Video |
VLC media player is free, popular, and just awesome. It’ll play just about any audio or video file you throw at it.
Beginning in version 3.0.0, it supports hardware acceleration so that it should play even hi-res vids smoothly.
But quite often when you try to play a 4K (2160p) video, the playback stutters and is basically unwatchable.
What gives??
Turns out there’s a very simple fix that works 95% of the time! And it’ll take you all of about 10 seconds to do it…
(more…)
6 July 2021 | Computers, How to, Video |
Chrome is a fantastic web browser – except when it eats all your CPU power and crashes your puter.
What’s going on here? I thought Chrome was lean, mean, and zippy?
Well, it IS… But the Software Reporter Tool that it downloads and runs to scan your computer “for evil add-ons” may be up to more than just making sure Chrome runs well (which is hilarious, since it ends up crashing the puters of so many of us!).
Whatever… How do you turn the dang thing OFF?!
(more…)
29 June 2021 | Computers, Video |
Microsoft can’t seem to get Windows 10 right, and maybe now we know the reason: because they just announced Windows 11!
Coming sometime around the end of this year, Windows 11 promises to be everything Win 10 is not.
There’s only one problem: Everyone is claiming (including MS) that you’ll need a super-modern puter to run it. In this vid, I take a look at Windows 11 and its system requirements. I also review past Windows releases, and how each time, the same thing happened.
In short, YES, your computer will run Windows 11 just fine! Nothing to see here…
(more…)
22 June 2021 | Programming, Video |
If you’re a web developer, you’ve probably used Google’s Material Design Icon font. It’s a great way to include 1 small file and get gajillions of icons – instead of making 20 different pixel sizes of numerous icons, and then creating sprites and all that jazz.
The trouble is that until now, there was no reference for PAST versions of the MD icon font. You’re supposed to just load it from Google’s servers and be happy.
But what if you you don’t need 1800+ icons at 102kB in file size?
What if an older version of the MD icon font is just fine, you want to load the font file from your own servers or CDN, and you just want to know what icons are available in that older version?
Now, you’re all set!
(more…)
15 June 2021 | Computers, Gizmos, How Does it Work?, Networking, Video |
Even if you don’t know the term ‘phishing scam’, chances are you’ve already been targeted by many of them.
A phishing scam is when someone uses a genuine-looking e-mail, login page, SMS, or whatever to fool you into giving up personal data – like logins, passwords, card and banking info, etc.
They often involve some kind of ‘hook’ that makes you worried or scared. When that happens, you stop thinking and fall into the trap.
But these scams are very easy to avoid with a bit of extra attention. I’ll show an example of a phishing scam I received recently and then take it apart piece by piece so that next time, you’ll know exactly what to look for to protect yourself!
(more…)
1 June 2021 | How to, Programming, Video |
For reasons unknown to me, other people are always asking me how to learn programming.
Well, there’s the traditional route: go to school, become a coder. Done!
But as we all know, many of the best and most famous programmers were those who dropped out of school and were essentially self-taught.
Are they onto something?
(more…)
A friend recently bought a new 5G smartphone. She was worried about the ‘5G’ part especially. Two problems:
Recent Comments